Rehearsing Citizenship

The Governing of Juvenile Delinquency in Colonial Malaya

Bibliographic Data

ID4524877
AuthorsPeter Triantafillou (0000-0002-5807-6011), Afonso Moreira
Year2002
Volume6
Issue3
Pages325-340
Publication date2002-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCitizenship Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1362-1025 • E-ISSN: 1469-3593
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1362102022000011649
OpenAlexW2133635168
LanguageEN
References cited11

This article traces the sudden problematisation and governing of juvenile delinquency in British colonial Malaya in the decade preceding independence in 1957 whereby a juvenile court system, a network of institutions for delinquents, and a series of training and disciplinary practices were set up to rehabilitate the delinquent in order to turn him into a responsible citizen. Drawing on the analytics of disciplinary and ethical practices conducted by Michel Foucault, it is argued that the governing of juvenile delinquency in colonial Malaya may be seen as a fundamental element of a wider assemblage of normalising techniques seeking to recast subjectivity from that of immature individuals into active and responsible self-governing ones, and that these techniques were highly dividing in that they produced not only what is taken to be good citizens but also delinquents. It is shown that Malaysian independence, far from leading to a break with these power-laden practices of citizenship, instead leads to their further development, dispersal and institutionalisation

Citizenship · Colonialism · Criminology · Discipline · Juvenile delinquency · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Asian Studies and History · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Law

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub